Friday, October 18, 2013

History Buffs Read Nothing Like It In The World for November

History Buffs, the library's newest book discussion group, has selected Nothing Like It In The World by Stephen Ambrose, for their4th meeting onNovember 21st at 6:30. Copies of the book are available at the Upper Level Circulation Desk.

This group will continue to meet on the 3rd Thursday of each month, to discuss American History titles.

About the BookNothing Like It in the World
gives the account of an unprecedented feat of engineering, vision, and
courage. It is the story of the men who built the transcontinental
railroad — the investors who risked their businesses and money; the
enlightened politicians who understood its importance; the engineers and
surveyors who risked, and sometimes lost, their lives; and the Irish
and Chinese immigrants, the defeated Confederate soldiers, and the other
laborers who did the backbreaking and dangerous work on the tracks.
The U.S. government pitted two companies — the Union Pacific and the
Central Pacific Railroads — against each other in a race for funding,
encouraging speed over caution. Locomotives, rails, and spikes were
shipped from the East through Panama or around South America to the West
or lugged across the country to the Plains. In Ambrose's hands, this
enterprise, with its huge expenditure of brainpower, muscle, and sweat,
comes vibrantly to life.